Creating a Morning Routine That Works For Me

Do you have a morning routine? Or are you like me? You know you need one but just haven’t been able to pull it together yet. Let’s talk about this, okay?

I’ve been trying to develop a consistent morning routine for quite some time now. I can’t say I’ve been very successful, however. You know those people who sleep well, awake refreshed, and jump out of bed eager to start their day? Yeah, well…I’m not one of them. As a kid I was more of a morning person but over the years I’ve become a night owl and I just don’t sleep very well. It takes me awhile to process life when I first get up. I’m not grumpy but I want a quiet start to my day.

My grandmother had an expression that I’ve never heard anywhere else. When I spent the night she would make me a cup of tea in the morning and tell me to “soak awhile”. In other words, quietly sip my tea and take my time waking up. This suited me just fine…and it still does. When I don’t allow adequate time to “soak awhile”, I feel rushed and out-of-sorts all day. So I’m trying to work out a routine that balances my need for a slow start with the fact I have a lot to accomplish each day.

I’ve just about accepted the fact that I need a rather lengthy morning routine. There are several things I want to include:

meditation

Morning Pages

yoga/stretching

reading

writing out my plan for the day

lots of hot tea!

I then need to do a short “homekeeping” routine. I know that I concentrate better on my work if the house is in order. I can keep up with the basics in just 30 minutes a day so it makes sense to get that out of the way early in the day.

One of my main priorities for 2016 is my health. Daily treadmill time is going to be an important part of that. I think I should get that out of the way before beginning my work otherwise I tend to put it off and never get around to it.

Finally, I want to stop spending most of my day in yoga pants with no makeup. In fact, I’d like to start the work part of my day showered, fully dressed, hair and makeup done.

Realistically, all of this is going to take 3-4 hours. That sounds like a lengthy morning routine but if I can make all of this a habit I think I will be able to start work (I’m referring to blog work and freelance writing) feeling as though I’m on top of things. This ought to be good for my concentration because I won’t have all those nagging thoughts about all the things I still have to do.

What about you? Do you have a morning routine that works for you? If so, I’d love to hear about it so leave me a comment or email me. If you don’t have one or are looking to change yours, here are some of the resources I’ve been looking at to help me with mine:

I read this a couple of years ago and found it fascinating. Two common rituals for writers seem to be long daily walks and lots of alcohol. The walking fits in well with my fitness plans but I think I’ll skip the day drinking. 😉

This book is where I learned about Morning Pages – 3 pages of stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. I’ve done this off and on. There is something rather freeing about a brain dump on paper. I want to make this a daily habit.

3. My Morning Routine – This site has an option to sign up for a weekly email which brings you a new morning routine every Wednesday. Some of the people whose routines are shared are really quite interesting.

I purchased this 14 day course several weeks ago and was very impressed. I only had time for a quick overview but I knew I’d be doing it again. Once purchased you have access to the lessons forever. I highly recommend this course. I’m going to be doing it again starting January 1st. If you buy it let me know. If enough of my readers are doing the course I may come up with a way we can discuss our thoughts about it.

I can’t do routines. Simple as that. It’s not that I don’t want to, but that my sleeping problems make it next to impossible, and my other health issues don’t help. I almost never know when I’ll be sleeping, or for how long, in advance, unless there’s an appointment I absolutely have to get up for. I tried forcing a sleeping schedule, but that just resulted in me getting no sleep at all, stressing over not sleeping, and getting nothing done because I was just too tired to even think straight most of the time. So, now I just go with it. This way I get to sleep so have a bit of energy to work with, and am a little less stressed.

I always give myself a bit of time to wake up with a cup of tea before getting started on whatever needs to get done. But I can’t take too long about it, because I only have a small window of time where I have decent energy levels after a sleep these days. So I have my few minutes wake up time with a drink, then tackle the things that need most energy (housework, most of the time). After that I move on to the other things I need to do, like getting in my writing time and sorting e-mails. After that comes time to read, watch TV, catch up with people on social media, etc. Exactly how this all gets slotted in to my day depends on when I sleep, how long I sleep, exactly what needs doing, and how long my energy lasts before I need another nap.

I know it probably sounds strange for someone only just in their 30s to say about needing lots of naps, getting tired very quickly, etc. But it’s my reality… Has been all my life, though lately I’ve noticed I have more very tired days than days where I have a good amount of energy. Lucily, I have a great hubby, who not only helps out a lot in general, but will sometimes take over some of my chores too.

I do understand. I sleep very poorly much of the time. My plan is to have two morning routines. One for the days I can get up early and a shorter version for the mornings I need to sleep later. I’m hoping that will work. Ha!

I love reading about other women’s morning routines. I tend to have a skeleton of a routine that I follow – wake up, do my morning toilette, dive into my daily reading, get out my journal to do morning pages (I’ve read The Artist’s Way 2-3 times), plan my day, make a list of things to do. Each season (both literally and figuratively) of my life means adjustments to the details of this routine. I’m making some life changes – a new season for me – that will force me to fine tune my routine yet again. Thanks for sharing and for the links listed!

Morning Pages are going to be part of my routine, too. I’ve done them sporadically but I want to make it a regular thing. I’m curious to hear about your life changes. I haven’t been very good about commenting on blogs lately but yours is in my reader and I do keep an eye on it. 🙂 Happy New Year!

Thanks for following me. 🙂 Same here – tend to read but not comment much. Need to change that. I’m going through my reader today and paring it down so essential reading (like your blog) doesn’t get overwhelmed by things I’m no longer interested in.